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Not Surprisingly, Americans Are Buying Smaller Homes

  • August 26th 2010

by Mark Wellborn

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Not Surprisingly, Americans Are Buying Smaller Homes: Figure 1
Dinner party invites limited to one, small friend.

The Census Bureau recently reported that new homes are getting smaller, dropping to a median of 2,135 square feet last year after topping out at more than 2,300 square feet in the early 2000s, according to CNN.

From CNN:

“Kermit Baker, chief economist for the American Institute of Architects, pointed out that consumers don’t ask for as much for spaces devoted to single purposes, such as media rooms for watching videos and game rooms for shooting pool. Instead, the requests are for rooms with shared uses.

“We continue to move away from the ‘McMansion’ chapter of residential design,” he said.”

McMansions are a thing of the past most likely, but how small will homes get? You may remember a couple months back when we reported on the rise of the mini house and the ABC News report of Gregory Paul Johnson’s 140-square-foot mini house in Iowa City. Although sales at one mini-house company are apparently up twenty-fold over the last ten years (Is that from one home sold to 20?), it is hard to see this trend catching on.

See other articles related to: mcmansions

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/not_surprisingly_americans_are_buying_smaller_homes/2424.

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